than man, determined that he should be the one to plant the "banner of the stars" upon the loftiest pinnacle ever won throughout the five years' struggle by force of arms; an efflorescence of stone as wonderful as the feat of arms which it commemorates; a "pulpit rock," from which the arch-dev of the Rebellion, like the "Veiled Prophet of Khorassan"(no less determined in his desolating and selfish ambition)— stood and promised triumph to his deluded followers, a promise as false, as fatal as the poisoned goblet to a like fanaticised faithful in the halls of Neksheb.

To do full justice, however, to this great American soldier, would require more time than can be accorded, and the pen, however unwilling to hurry over so glorious a theme, must reluctantly restrict itself to the mere mention of Ringgold, Mill Creek, Cassville, Dallas, Pine Mountain, on the Chattahoochee, before Atlanta: but, more particularly, at Peach Tree Creek! In all these Hooker added to the resplendent reputation which was the inevitable result of his actual personal leadership in contact with the enemy.

The following quotation undertakes to explain his disappearance from active service:

"In August he left the Army of the Cumberland in consequence of his criticisms on Sherman's movements in the advance on Atlanta. He was provoked at what he considered a failure on Sherman's part to retrieve a blunder made by McPherson before Resacca (in Snake Creek Gap), and he freely alluded to it as a "blunder." Sherman resented it,

and, when McPherson was killed, leaving Hooker the senior major-general in command of a corps, and naturally expecting to be placed in command of an army, General Howard was appointed, subject to the approval of the President. Mr. Lincoln telegraphed Sherman to appoint Hooker. Sherman reiterated his desire to have Howard appointed; the President still urged Hooker's appointment, whereupon Sherman made his resignation a condition of Hooker's appointment. Howard was appointed, and Hooker was relieved to take the Northern Department."

To promote Howard at the expense of Hooker, after their relations at Chancellorsville, would seem an unparalleled injustice if the last few years had not revealed what extraordinary doings "Rings" can accomplish, and while there is ever present to the memory the fact that another was preferred to Thomas. But

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the 'rank and file' scout a political plan,

For a Soldier knows Soldier, a MAN loves a MAN!
Then to him who of fighting ne'er yet got his fill;
To that gen'ral who e'er found a Way for his Will;
To that one when most wrong'd chose, then, most to obey;
And in stern path of duty, show'd, led on, the way;
'Three cheers and a Tiger,' 'tis Joe Hooker, the man
Who as chief or corps-leader will do all he can,
And as long as he serves our dear country we know

Just the the spot where to find him, JOE HOOKER, OUR JOE."

J. WATTS DE PEYSTER,

Brevet Major-General, S. N. Y.

The Third Army Corps.

ITS ANNUAL DINNER-WHO WAS THERE AND WHAT WAS SAID.

The Annual Dinner of the Third Army Corps Union took place last evening, 5th May, at the Astor House, being given, like all its predecessors, on the Anniversary of the Battle of Williamsburg, which was not only the first engagement of the Army of the Potomac which its military historians dignify by the title of a battle, but which was fought by the Third Corps almost alone and unsupported. Indeed, the members of that Corps are wont to say that it is THIRD in name alone, and that by the record of its achievements it should be designated the FIRST. It was the first Corps to enter Yorktown. It was first to fight the four year's antagonist of the great army of the Union, the "Army of the Potomac"-the "Army of Northern Virginia." It fought the first battle before Richmond and also the initiative conflict of the series of collision s known as the "Seven Days of Battle." It covered the retreat from the Peninsula. It was the earliest in force to succor Pope and the Union "Army of Virginia." Upon it fell the brunt of the battle of Chantilly, and it saved Washington in 1862. Under Pope it was fought to pieces, and though

eager to be present at Antietam, had to remain in Washington to recruit. It held the key of the position at Chancellorsville, and it was one of the regiments of the Third Corps who rid us of that dangerous enemy, Stonewall Jackson. It held the salient at Gettysburg and stopped the turning movement of Lee. Had it been handled by one of its own brilliant and beloved chiefs, it would have cut in two Lee's retreat behind the Blue Ridge; when inefficiently put in, it suffered in vain at Wapping Heights. Again, through the same insufficiency, it came short of achieving success in the bitter Mine Run movement. All through the campaign under Grant it rendered brilliant service, and the chapter of its great achievements ended with the war alone.

.

About fifty gentlemen sat down to dinner last evening, and fought their battles over again like good comrades, with a vivacity not to be expected in regard to events that occurred so many years ago. General H. E. Tremaine, who was Aide to Hooker at Chancellorsville, and Meade at Gettysburg, presided. Later in the evening he gave way to Major W. P. Shreve, who acted as toastmaster.

The first toast was "The President of the United States," which was most ably responded to by Colonel Clayton McMichael, of Philadelphia, whose remarks, both humorous and eloquent, were followed by hearty cheers.

The second toast was "The Death Roll of the Year," to which General John Watts de Peyster responded in the following observations:

COMRADES:-In response to this toast, I am not going

"To fight (y)our battles o'er again,"

but to endeavor to recall and commemorate qualities in our "loved and lost" which rendered them as interesting and agreeable in other lines as those of military duty, as when they "set the battle in the tented field."

I feel at this moment, with Ulysses,

"Blind to the future, pensive with our fears,

Glad for the living, for the dead in tears."

Gen. Samuel P. Heintzelman has never received the full meed of acknowledgement which was his due. Unexceeded in courage, unsurpassed in patriotism, the experienced veteran who was the first to command the "glorious OLD FIGHTING THIRD CORPS, as we understand IT," was as clearsighted and as clear-headed as he was brave and magnani

mous.

After the war to put down "the Slaveholder's Rebellion" had ceased, I had the pleasure and profit to continue an intimacy which began about the time of the first Bull Run disaster, which resulted in a correspondence, exceedingly valuable on his part, after the sterling old Pennsylvanian had gone to Europe in search of remedies to restore, in a measure, the health which he had sacrificed in the service of his country. There is scarcely a doubt that he intended to perpetuate the story of his connection with an organization of which he was intensely proud and which he dearly loved. If he had lived